Breaking Out
by XDT Athens
Summary: Nathaniel di Carina and Test Subject Krieg have escaped Hyperion Custody. Do not attempt to fight them. Report any sightings to local Hyperion offices immediately. Both of these criminals are highly dangerous bandits. Stay alert. Thank you. M for violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to anyone reading this! My name is Jakob and this is my first fanfiction i time. I've loved Borderlands and Krieg since like late 2014 and I've had a Krieg RP account on tumblr since January 2016. This story involves Krieg and my OC, Nathaniel di Carina. I will be trying to make it as true to the BL Universe as possible, and any reviews would be extremely appreciated! Thank you so so much!**

 **This chapter is just a little bit of introduction to the characters and setting up the story a bit. For the full summary, Nathaniel and Krieg are kidnapped by Hyperion and this fic details their interactions as test subjects and trying to escape and finally, becoming Vault Hunters.**

 **Thanks again! Please feel free to tell me what you think!**

Chapter 1: The Prologue

My best friend was missing.

There were fearsome occurrences everyday in Pandora. That was just a fact of life. You venture too far, you get killed. Being robbed and tortured and mutilated and torn apart by bandits was the best way to go. People died, went missing. The denizens of Pandora just accepted it at this point. But when Hyperion came, there were people who thought all of that would change. People who bought into the lies. It was just another mistake we made. Anyone who opposed Hyperion vanished into the night. Anyone who spoke against their policies disappeared. It was awful.

I live in a small village on the outskirts of Pandora's mainland. There aren't many people here. We're just a town of fisherpeople and merchants. We're not too far from the ocean, maybe a 10 minute walk. When I felt awful, I would walk down to the shores and play in the sand and let the waves wash over me. When the sun set, the water would turn a sort of weird, pinkish color to reflect the way the sky bled. I became enamored with the sight and with the feeling of water against my skin quickly, and soon I started going every day. It was just me, staring out at the beautiful waves every day and thinking. Thinking about my life, how lucky I was to be here. Then one day _he_ came into my life. I knew who he was, of course. His nickname was Krieg, and we used to play together when we were toddlers. We went to the same school. But we had never really talked that much. But when I saw him on that shining shore, just standing there with his toes in the sand and a smile on his beautiful face, I knew I had to talk to him. His hair was tied back in a ponytail. He was unbelievably tall. By the time he was 18 he was almost 7' tall. His body was toned and muscular, from what little of it I had seen. He wasn't the type to enjoy being seen. He always tried to hide himself, and I could relate to that. He wore a heavy hoodie and baggy sweatpants, and always kept his hood up over his face.

But here? Standing on the beach, he apparently didn't care if anyone else saw him. Maybe because he assumed he'd be alone. He was simply dressed in a bathing suit, no shirt on. My eyes scanned over his back and I forced myself to look away. Oh. Oh lord. Who gave him the right to be so strong? Now, there are two things I should tell you about myself. One, I am incredibly shy. Like, the most shy person in the entire village. Two, I'm super gay. It's ridiculous. I'm surrounded by cute boys and I am in hell. Every boy is cute and I'm dying. My desire to kiss and hold and talk to cute boys and my complete and utter inability to talk to said cute boys led to a little bit of a dilemma, but eventually my desire to talk to him won out over my fear. I approached him, my feet kicking up sand as I waded my way over to him and gently tapped his shoulder.

He spun around, evidently surprised, but his look of fear turned to a small smile as he recognized my face. "Oh, hey Nathaniel." His warm, rumbling voice put a smile on my face as well and sent shivers down my back. The fact that he even knew who I was told me that I had already made the right decision. "What are you doing out here?"

"I come out here from time to time." And by time to time I mean every single day. "I don't think I've ever seen you outside of school before." I struggled to maintain eye contact with him because a) I'm only 5'2" and b) his chest was level with my face, and it's hard to concentrate when I'm so close to Krieg.

Despite my ridiculous nature, I managed to hold a conversation with him and throughout the next few weeks we grew closer and closer. I had no clue how he felt about me, but I for one found myself just wanting to be with him and love him, and every little thing about him made me smile. He was funny, he was sweet, and he accepted me for who I am. I could just be myself with him, talk freely about anything I wanted to, and he knew he could do the same. But sometimes you have to watch what you say when Hyperion is lurking around every corner.

I have never been a fan of what Hyperion has done on other planets, the things they did to their people. Needless to say, when I first saw those terrifying ships approaching, I thought it would be the end of life as I knew it. Tons of people did. But, again, not everyone felt that way. That's way there wasn't enough people to organize against Hyperion. Half of them didn't recognize the malevolence in their actions. The "ends" (a civilized, bandit free Pandora) justified the "means" (slaughtering thousands of innocents in cold blood and colonizing land that wasn't theirs). Krieg came from a planet worse than Pandora, if you can believe it. He came from Promethea. His family fought Atlas and drove them off the planet so long ago. Krieg was used to fighting back and used to standing up for himself.

But Hyperion was different from Atlas. Hyperion didn't make 3 year olds admirals, though the current CEO of Hyperion certainly acted like a 3 year old. Hyperion was far, far more dangerous. And when Krieg starting getting public with his spite for Hyperion, when he started organizing protests against Hyperion, things went to shit.

His house was burned to the ground. His family made it out okay, but he was nowhere to be found. People said it was an accident, but I knew it wasn't. Hyperion had kidnapped him and burned his house to the ground. It was a fact. And I had to find him.

It was a dumb idea. I shouldn't have kept going out, oh god I knew I shouldn't have. I just NEEDED to know where he had gone. Where Hyperion had taken him. So, I started exploring. Exploring the places my family and my friends had never wanted to. Each day I dared to venture a little further, a little more past our humble village.

I found more than I had ever expected.

I found lush, green forests with beautiful creatures. I found breathtaking little ravines and rivers that were seemingly untouched by the toxicity and danger that the rest of Pandora possessed.

And when I ventured past THOSE, I found huge caverns filled with a beautiful, foreign purple rock. Eridium. And I… I saw something I shouldn't have. What I witnessed… I still can't really put it into exact words, but I can try.

It was… it was disgusting. People were being forced by Hyperion workers to slave away mining the Eridium for hours upon hours. There were no breaks and no rewards. They wore jumpsuits, and if any of them stepped out of line, they were immediately punished by the Hyperion workers. I'd never seen any treatment so horrific. Whatever they were mining that shit for, whatever they were doing, whatever reason they had for killing and abusing and exploiting innocent people, I knew I wasn't supposed to be seeing it. I didn't realize how close to the site I had gotten until I accidentally knocked over a few rocks from my spot up above the cavern and I cursed. Heads turned to face me, and the curses kept coming. Well, time to get the hell out of dodge. As I turned to leave, I heard a mechanical whirr and a yellow and white Hyperion bot surged forward, landing right in front of me.

"Do not attempt to run. You are hereby admitted to Hyperion custody." It's eye wasn't even looking at me. The thing was so huge, I didn't want to take my chances, and so I nodded weakly.

I'm still not entirely convinced that this isn't a nightmare and that this is real, but if it is real, then god is it terrible. I can't believe it. In the blink of an eye, just because of some dumb mistake, I had been found and detained by Hyperion, just because I had seen the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Who knew where they would take me? I sure as hell didn't. But maybe this was a blessing in disguise. I was sitting handcuffed in the back of a Hyperion escort ship so I kind of HAD to stay positive.

Maybe they'd take me to the same place Krieg was being held. Maybe I'd be okay. Maybe I'd see my family again.

There were honestly a lot of maybes involved, probably too many.

Great, now I'm adding probably in too.

Whatever the case, I have a feeling that things will get worse before I find Krieg. I'll just have to wait and see.


	2. Chapter 2: Limits

**Hi y'all! Wow, I know, a second chapter! I'm determined to hopefully not just write one or two chapters for stories and then just not write for like a year LOL Anyways I'm going to keep this short but I hope you enjoy! Please tell me what you think!**

 **I love you guys! Thanks so much for reading!**

 **TW FOR FIRE, VIOLENCE, AND EYE HORROR.**

Limits.

Everyone has them, but not everybody knows them. I guess one of those people who doesn't know them is me. To be fair, how was I supposed to know Hyperion would set my house on fire with me still in it?

I wake up to the pungent smell of smoke in the air and the crackling of burning wood. My eyes shot wide open and I sat up quickly. Oh god oh god what is happening?

I heard the creaking of floorboards and a voice yelling something. Who was that? Was it my father? The smoke filled my lungs and I stumbled out of bed. I knew I had to get out. All around me the house was collapsing. I struggled to my feet. I had to see if my family was ok. I staggered through the house, watching in horror as the place I had called home for so long burned.

The kitchen, destroyed. The living room, decimated. My sisters room. Oh my god! My sister's room! I bounded to Mary's room and looked around desperately for her. She was there on the bed, paralyzed with fear. I sprinted over and put my arms underneath her, picking her up. "Hey, hey, just hang on." I whispered in a pathetic attempt to comfort her. My eyes stung with sweat and it felt like my feet would give out any second from the unbearable heat. I hurried to leave, but there was a loud groan and a crash and I yelped as a wood beam fell from the ceiling, as well as a whole bunch of plaster and rubble.

There was another set of footsteps and my dad appeared on the other side of the mess.

"JACOB!" He yelled out desperately. That was the last time I'd hear my real name again for a while.

"I'm here!" I managed to cough out with a bit of struggle. There was enough space in between the rubble to fit Mary through and for my dad to get her out of there, but there was no way in hell I could get out. If only we didn't live on the outskirts of the village, there could be people here by now.

I managed to get Mary through the tiny space and yelled at my dad to go. Before he could protest, I heard another crash and felt something crash onto me. The last thing I remember before passing out is the horrible sensation of burning alive.

I was out for 3 days. When I awoke, the first thing I felt was pain and confusion. How the hell was I alive? No, actually though. My house had burned down on top of me and I… I was still alive?

Well, dad had always said that Tundran Prometheans were resilient. Maybe if I had come from The Hells of Promethea instead, we wouldn't even have blinked at the fire. I struggled to open my eyes, and when I did I was hit with blinding light, and strange figures above me. Well, they were humanoid in appearance. The strange part was that I could hardly see them. There were hushed whispers.

"Dad?" I choked out. It was a bit silly in context, perhaps. Sounded incredibly cheesy. Oh, stereotypical kid gets in a tragic accident and immediately after waking up in a strange hospital, he calls out his (probably dead) dad's name. I immediately felt awful for being so cynical and pessimistic. Was I really so desensitized that I cared about sending silly after my house had been burnt to the ground? What the hell was I even saying anymore? Even thinking?

I struggled and rolled my head to the side to try to get a better look at the figures standing at my feet. One of them froze up and the others did as well.

"You can… call me that, if you like." The middle one said hesitantly.

"Where am I? Where's my family?" I struggled to sit up but I was tied down. It was then I realized that I wasn't in a hospital. I was… somewhere else. Somewhere worse. I was tied to a cold, steel table, not a hospital bed. The figures were much further up and behind tinted windows; an observatory room.

And there were more people in here with me.

I began to panic and struggle against my restraints. I had to get out of was nothing could that could come of this. I grunted and cried out, but soon the figures approached. They sedated me with some awful drug, and I blacked out. Well, kind of. I faded in and out of consciousness and part of me wished I could stay asleep forever. I was in a strange place with no family and no way of even knowing if they were alive.

And Nate…

Krieg's eyes shot open. No, he couldn't give in. He couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't submit.

He had to get out of here, had to get out and back to Nate. His eyes danced around and his head rolled back and forth to glance up at whoever was looming over him; doctors, surgeons, scientists.

And Handsome Jack. He recognized him from the posters. He was the only one in the room sporting a smile.

Krieg struggled and thrashed against his restraints, arching his back to try to create enough distance between himself and the table to snap the restraints. He shook his head no, so hyped up on an ungodly amount of sedatives and painkillers and… something that they had pumped into him. His eyes darted from face to face as he took in the sights and sounds.

Jack's eyes glowed with either malign intent, morbid curiosity, or both. Krieg was covered in disgusting welts and burns and had been injected with enough sedatives to put an elephant to sleep. Yet still he was fighting. Jack seemed to take a disturbing amount of sadistic pleasure in that.

"Huh. Gotta say Sammy, I haven't seen anyone fight back like this in a long time." He chuckled. "I mean, it's amusing, but at the same time it's a little grating. Our doctors can't get shit done if he's writhing and screaming like that. Whaddya say we get rid of his eye?"

Sammy (Krieg was assuming that was her name) shot a look of disgust and horror at her employer. "You can't be serious! He's obviously in enough pain as it is and permanently damaging his eyes could be an extreme hindrance to your wishes for him! There's no point to this senseless viole-" She was cut off by Jack getting in her face.

"Do you forget why the hell he's here in the first place?" His voice dropped to a dangerously low tone. "He's here because he's a filthy bandit lover-"

"Allegedly."

"-and he's spreading anti-Hyperion propaganda and lies. He deserves what he has coming to him. Unless you're volunteering your dear wife to be next." Jack stared her down until Sammy looked away in contempt. Sammy sighed and called two men over to hold him down.

Krieg was terrified as he watched this exchange and felt himself being held down. It took a lot of weight to keep him there (the men had to push with their whole body weight) but eventually he was still enough for Sammy to approach him with a scalpel. She looked extremely conflicted, but she was still doing it anyway.

"I'm sorry, kid." She whispered quietly. Krieg shook his head and tried to say something, but no words came out. The scalpel came down into his eyes and he screamed in anguish and terror.

Sammy closed her eyes and tried to drown out his screams and get it over with as soon as possible. Soon it was out, and the boy had passed out the unbearable pain. It seemed they had found Krieg's limit.

"Great. Now get the replacement in."

It was several hours before Krieg awoke again. This time he was in a small, cramped room with iron bars. It dawned on him that he had been put in a jail cell. He clanged on the bars with what little strength he had before falling to his knees. He was terrified. What was going to happen? It was then that he realized his left eye was burning hot. He started to scream, but his voice was already so hoarse from the screaming he had done earlier. Everything had a sickly purple tint.

His screams quickly turned to quiet sobs, until even his tears were dried up. He curled up, exhausted and afraid, only turning his head up when he heard a voice call out to him from across the hall.

"You new here, kid?"

Krieg nodded, glancing up at the voice with wide eyes. He must have been another prisoner. He looked awful. Emaciated and skinny, sunken eyes and extremely purple veins. This was not a good sign. He looked at Krieg in something close to pity, but he had probably wasted all of it on himself. He shook his head.

"Welcome to the Hyperion Preserve, kid. Good luck."


End file.
